📧 Boshart Davis: “Not acceptable.”
The following letter was sent by Representative Shelly Boshart Davis at 17:40 on February 7, 2025. CCed were Senator Sara Gelser Blouin, Legislative Administrator Brett Haines, Security Manager Brad Brainard, Oregon State Police Public Information Officer Kyle Kennedy, and Dignitary Protection Lieutenant Casi Hegney.
Dear Mr. Issac,
I am writing to follow up on your recent interactions in my office. I want to clarify the roll of legislative staff. They are not elected officials but serve our constituents in a professional capacity, and as such, are not subject to the same public scrutiny as I am. I understand your passion about veterans’ issues and am grateful for your service and advocacy. However, the situation in my office on January 27, 2025, was not acceptable.
While I fully support your cause, I cannot help you introduce [military civil rights in Oregon] over the next two sessions, and if you wish, you can appeal to another member of the Legislature to help you.
Effective immediately, and until February 2026, you are no longer permitted to visit my office, or enter my staff’s workspace, in person. You are free to communicate with my office through alternative channels, such as electronic email or the United States Postal Service.
MIA Response
Received, thank you. For the record, I prefer Brother (Br.) rather than Mr. ("master"); I have been a Life Professed Member of the Hospitallers of Saint Martin since November 2019.
Although we agree that the events that occurred January 27th were "not acceptable," it appears we diverge in assigning responsibility. But more importantly, you are incorrect on a couple of things that should be clarified.
Your staff are state employees paid for by public funds and are therefore civil servants. They may not have been elected, but they are in fact subject to public scrutiny. Our conversation also occurred in your public office during business hours while ORLA was in session, heightening the public interest in knowing how they treat your constituents. For example;
your staff falsely accused me of making a threat (@ 00:01:03)
your staff was the first to raise their voice (@ 00:01:36)
your staff condescendingly threatened to "call the [Oregon State Police] if you don't tone your voice down!" (@ 00:07:25)
Finally, as a public office operated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly, office H-389 is public, not private, property. As such the office is not yours to apply arbitrary restraint upon the exercise of my rights.
Be careful not to clutch your pearls so tight that you find your hands around someone else's neck.
If staff feel overwhelmed by the space I occupy as a human being, much less your constituent, then the burden is upon those staffers to remove themselves to avoid triggers, unprocessed trauma, or whatever hinders their ability to participate in our democratic processes, including nonviolent direct action and the right of all Americans to peaceably assemble.
